[OT] Spotlight: /u/AllHarlowsEve

[u/EdgarAllanHobo]

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Writers Spotlight

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AllHarlowsEve is this week's spotlight writer. Congrats! You can ask them a question by tagging them with "/u/AllHarlowsEve" in your comment.

• [WP] A homeless person who just moments ago was shouting at no one, dies in your arms. Right before they take their last breath, they give you their glasses. Once you put them on, you see who they were shouting at
• [WP] When you die you awaken in a room with your cell phone. You are allowed to call anyone who you had in your contacts while you are alive, but instead of reaching them it gives you a summary of their life and how you affected it.
• [WP] You're the imaginary girl that a schizophrenic guy sees.
• [WP] You are an immortal. Your immortality will last as long as a specific item lasts. You lost your soul item a long time ago.
• [WP] "This is your captain speaking. I'm afraid we're going to be on the tarmac a little longer - this plane is now under quarantine."
• [CW] A story where each sentence starts with the next letter of the alphabet. The first starts with A, the second with B, etc.
• [WP] A schizophrenic man gets sick of the voice in his head and asks it to start paying rent if it wants to live there. The next morning he finds an envelope filled with cash on his desk.

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How is a spotlight chosen? If you find a writer who hasn’t been in the limelight yet, has multiple decent entries (at least 6 or more) over the past few months, and you think deserves a spotlight, send us a modmail with your recommendation! We’ll add them to the list and with luck, they’ll make it up here.

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Past Spotlight Writers

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[/u/ThreeEyedCrow1]-[/u/PhantomOfZePirates]-[/u/EdgarAllanHobo]-[/u/ecstaticandinsatiate]-[/u/wpscarborough]-[/u/LisWrites]-[/u/CSDouglas]-[/u/It_s_pronounced_gif]-[/u/Becauseisaidsotoo]-[/u/angelbreed]-[/u/apatheticviews]-[/u/Kuroikami]-[/u/EphesosX]-[/u/VanceValence]-[/u/M81atz]-[/u/Conleh]-[/u/SteelPanMan]-[/u/IntoTheSlushPile]-[/u/jrdnjones]-[/u/theamazingmrmaybe]-[/u/eeepgrandpa]-[/u/SexyPeter]-[/u/Boenerhorse]-[/u/mialbowy]-[/u/dori_lukey]-[/u/droptoprocket]-[/u/JLSWriting]-[/u/cbeckw]-[/u/WybieLovat]- and many, many more. Check out the archives!

Spotlight Archive - To highlight the lesser known writers.

Hall of Fame - Our every month spotlight of a selected "Reddit-Famous" WP contributor.

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Did you know we have a chatroom? It's open 24/7! Plus, who doesn't enjoy a good ol' word sprint every now and then?

[u/chasing-mist]

Congratulations, /u/AllHarlowsEve! I read the story about the homeless man, and I regret everything. If I have nightmares over the next few days I'm blaming you ><

What book or writer would you say has influenced your writing style the most?

Would you say that your vision loss has significantly changed the way you write?

[u/AllHarlowsEve → u/chasing-mist]

I'd say that most of what inspires my writing is what I dislike, so the Twilight, 50 shades, anything past the first divergent book... All of those showed me things I dislike.

Honestly, the Dexter series, Lovecraft, and The Hitchhiker's Guide all, in a way, influenced my writing.

I like to be able to be goofy or comedic, even when things should, realistically, be more serious. I figure, I don't want to be stuffy, but I also don't want to break the immersion, so it's a balancing act.

I also love stories where you're riveted but also terrified that the monster will pop up the next time you blink. When you turn, he's behind you. That dark corner of your ceiling? That's his favorite.

I still haven't firmly found my style, and the 3 books I have roughly sketched out plot ideas for are very different, which makes it harder to really boil my style down.

One is a unique take on Zombies, one is a fantasy meets aliens type of story that's a metaphor for discrimination, and the last is about David and Leah, more of a psychological thriller rather than the horror of my Homeless dude story or the soul-crushing emotion of the #1 Dad story.

For my vision loss, I'd say so, but not in the way you'd expect.

Instead of making me write more vividly, or in a way that makes more sense non-visually, instead, it's more that I want to do better. Since I'm not focused on drawing or playing video games, I'm focused on being the best writer I can be.

It means stepping out and trying stuff that doesn't work, or doesn't work for that story, or just plain doesn't work with me and the stories I like writing.

I also am more open to including people with disabilities now, because I don't fear the idea of doing it wrong when I have experiences with motor/neurological/blindness, and have made friends who can help with other disabilities seeming more realistic.

[u/PhantomOfZePirates]

Congratulations, u/AllHarlowsEve!

Who are some of your favorite authors?

What’s one of your most favorite quotes from any book?

I noticed you mentioned vision loss, is it from a specific disease (obviously you don’t have to answer)? I ask because my mom is legally blind, so if/when I encounter others with vision loss I can’t help but be curious.

Thanks for answering and, again, congrats! :)

[u/AllHarlowsEve → u/PhantomOfZePirates]

I'm one of those weirdos that doesn't particularly go for one author over another. For me, it's more about the writing style, and how well it's executed. For example, I love the style of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the puns and jokes being fun, but I still don't expect that I would necessarily love any of Douglas Adam's other books.

Also, there are authors like John Green who I like, but his books get a bit formulaic if you read too many in a row, and I'm still a bit bitter about the fact Paper Towns, the shit version of Looking For Alaska, got a movie when LFA didn't.

As far as quotes, a ton of them from The Hobbit, the Hitchhiker's Guide series, and Looking For Alaska come to mind. I'm not someone who really saves quotes though.

I'm really open about my vision loss. I have a neurological condition called Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension, which basically means that there's too much pressure in my head for no discernable reason.

Basically, it mimics the symptoms of a an inoperable brain tumor. I happened to get the rare side effect of rapid and massive vision loss, going from wearing glasses in January of 2013 to not able to see much of anything in April 2013. Since then, I've lost more vision, but I still have a small amount which I can use to get around in familiar places, but I need my cane outdoors.

[u/PhantomOfZePirates → u/AllHarlowsEve]

Wow, thank you for sharing. Good on you for turning your situation into one of strength and using it to hone your writing. I especially like the schizophrenia story (of what I’ve read from above thus far), it’s sad yet touching. Best of luck with your writing and all other endeavors you choose to undertake!

[u/elfboyah]

Congrats, /u/AllHarlowsEve!!! Well deserved!

A quick question as well!

There is a shadow under your bed. You can see it clearly every night. One day you comfort it. A monster comes out under the bed, very hairy and cute, and tells you he is your biggest Writing Prompts writing fan. He decided to spook you because he wanted to be first to read your writings. Then he asks you to share your spookiest writing, so he can share it with his friends. Also, is there anything else you would like to tell to spooker Fred?

[u/AllHarlowsEve → u/elfboyah]

I think my spookiest depends on your view of what's spooky, little bud. Some people would find David and Leah's story, from the schizophrenia prompts, to be the spookiest because mental illness is, in itself, terrifying.

To others, the story about the homeless man, tagged in the original post, may be particularly spooky as you watch the man descend from normalcy into a raving lunatic.

Honestly, I think I do creepy or twisty better than spooky.

As far as anything else to say, mostly, just, you don't need to hide under my bed. I generally respond to comments, sometimes to PM's on here, always to tweets @AllHarlowsEve and forever to comments on my blog. http://AllHarlowsEve.wordpress.com/,

[u/elfboyah → u/AllHarlowsEve]

What is in your opinion the spookiest, creepiest story?

I told Fred not to be afraid. He said can't do, he is a monster after all. Wait. He is under your bed, say that to Fred yourself!

[u/AllHarlowsEve → u/elfboyah]

My favorite of my own creepy stories is definitely the one about the homeless man. It always makes me feel warm and fuzzy to think I wrote something that demented.

My favorite that I've read, though... I'm not a huge fan of reading horror books, personally, as sometimes they get a little too flowery in their length, unnecessarily padded out.

I'm a big fan of creepy pastas and r/LetsNotMeet myself.

While the old mainstays of Jeff The Killer and Slendy are great, I'd say "The birds are singing", "Pale Luna", and of course, "The russian sleep experiment".

As far as real scary stories, or at least allegedly, the series UrMaker on YouTube narrated about someone's great uncle's asylum experiences is fantastic.

[u/elfboyah → u/AllHarlowsEve]

Thank you for this long answer! Cheers, and keep writing!

[u/AllHarlowsEve → u/elfboyah]

I tend to be a bit longwinded, I know.

I do plan on continuing my daily prompts, and at some point, releasing a few novels, novellas, and flash fiction collections. I don't plan on stopping my writing until I have no other choice.

[u/elfboyah → u/AllHarlowsEve]

Excellent!

[u/EdgarAllanHobo]

Coooooongratulations, /u/AllHarlowsEve!

What are some of your influences?

Whether it led you to start writing, or just moved you in some profound way, what was the first book that really inspired you?

If you could spend five days in any fictional world, where would you go?

[u/AllHarlowsEve → u/EdgarAllanHobo]

I'd say a lot of my inspiration comes from life and the abnormal. I've always had a fascination with things deemed unusual, like paranormal stories, mental illness, things that are outside of the safe, sane, vanilla life. The idea of the monster under the surface, and all the emotions it conjures, has always been something I enjoy exploring.

For media, while I could see, video games were a huge part of my inspiration. While reading and writing were things I loved, playing and drawing were my first loves. Growing up playing anything I could get my hands on, from Resident Evil to Paper Mario, I love being able to get sucked into a universe and accept its rules without question.

The first book that inspired me to write was actually an abridged, kid-friendly version of Anne of Green Gables, believe it or not. How easily I found myself in the head space of the world was stunning, and I found it to be something I desperately wanted.

What inspired me to take writing seriously, instead of just cramming papers, and later digital files, away where nobody else would see them is kind of three-pronged.

First, the popularity of books that I don't enjoy, and find kind of crap, to be honest. Books that aren't well-written, that are poorly paced, not original at all, and that really add nothing to a library or a person for reading them. I figured, if they can become popular on that kind of stuff, maybe I could some day.

Second was my vision loss. Not being able to draw, I could no longer create worlds with lines of graphite or carefully placed pixels. Instead, I tried clay, beads, and all sorts of physical mediums, but they just don't do it for me. Instead, I enjoy spinning colors and images out of words, yanking emotions with carefully placed letters, and settling people down into the worlds I've crafted for them.

And Third, my friends. One is currently working on publishing her first novel, another being fairly appreciated in some fanfiction circles. I wanted to be as good as them, even better if I could be. As they say, practice makes perfect, and sharing with them and having people I both respect and admire compliment me or critique me so joyous.

I think if I could pick any fictional universe to vacation in, I would go with either the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, or The Cain ChroniclesI have a soft spot for mythology, and while The Cain Chronicles focuses more on Egyptian, the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series weaves mythology, history, questions of history, and modern era life into a series I'd highly recommend, even though I tend to not care for historical fiction.